Feeling Stuck in Therapy? Here’s How to Move Through It
Every fall, I notice a familiar rhythm in the therapy room. The air gets cooler, the city gets busier, and my clients start describing a quiet stuckness that often mirrors the season. The excitement of summer has faded, routines feel heavier, and growth—once rapid and energizing—can suddenly feel slower, murkier, or nonexistent.
If you’re feeling stuck in therapy, you’re not alone. This is actually a normal and meaningful part of the therapeutic process. Growth isn’t linear. Some sessions feel like breakthroughs—you leave feeling lighter, clearer, more connected. Other times, therapy can feel like you’re circling the same topics or bumping into an invisible wall.
Hitting a plateau doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. It often means you’ve reached an important threshold in your work. The key is learning how to work with that stuckness, not against it. Here’s how to get things moving again.
1. Name What Feels Stuck
The first step is clarity. What exactly feels stuck? Are you avoiding difficult emotions, holding something back, or feeling like the sessions aren’t meeting your needs?
Practical reflection steps:
Write down what’s been coming up in therapy recently. Are you repeating certain stories or patterns?
Identify how you’ve felt during and after sessions: frustrated, disconnected, overwhelmed?
Ask yourself:
What emotions have been coming up for me in therapy recently?
Am I holding back from saying something? Why?
Do I feel seen and understood by my therapist?
A Tool To Help You Get Unstuck— All of our clients at Gluck Psychology Collective get exclusive access to our signature My Therapy Journal—a structured, easy-to-use space to hold yourself accountable to these questions daily, weekly, monthly, or at whatever pace works best for you.
Ready to feel more grounded in your therapy journey? Schedule a free consult to see if working with our team can help you find your next breakthrough moment.
2. Bring It Up in Session
This part can feel so damn awkward and uncomfortable but I promise you it is normal and more than that, it’s vital. Your therapist wants to know when something isn’t clicking. Naming the stuckness out loud can be the moment things shift.
How to approach it:
Start with a simple statement: “I’ve been feeling like I’m not making as much progress lately—can we talk about it?”
Ask for feedback: “Do you notice any patterns that might be keeping me stuck?”
If your goals feel fuzzy, say so. Your therapist can help you revisit or redefine them.
Guiding questions:
What would I like to shift about the focus of therapy right now?
Are there any goals I want to revisit or adjust?
How can I communicate my needs more clearly with my therapist?
3. Challenge Yourself to Go Deeper
Therapy often slows down when we’re skimming the surface. Sometimes that’s self-protection. But real change often lives just past the edge of our comfort zone.
Ways to challenge yourself:
Notice what topics or emotions you tend to avoid and ask yourself why.
Let yourself sit with discomfort instead of pushing it away.
Experiment with being a little more emotionally vulnerable than usual.
Guiding questions:
Are there feelings or memories I’m avoiding in therapy?
What would it feel like to let myself stay with discomfort rather than escape it?
What’s one thing I’ve been holding back from saying?
4. Shift the Focus
Sometimes therapy feels stuck not because of what you’re saying—but because of where the focus has landed. If you’ve spent months processing the past, maybe it’s time to look at the present. If you’ve been stuck in analysis, maybe it’s time for action.
How to redirect:
Ask your therapist to explore how your patterns are showing up in current relationships.
Balance emotional processing with skill-building, or vice versa.
If conversations feel repetitive, ask your therapist to guide the session differently.
Guiding questions:
Do I want more practical strategies or deeper emotional exploration right now?
Have I been analyzing the same patterns without shifting them?
What’s one area of my life I’d like to bring more focus to in therapy?
5. Adjust the Format
If you’ve been doing talk therapy for a while and still feel stuck, trying a different therapeutic approach can help unlock deeper layers of processing. Modalities like EMDR, IFS, or somatic work can access parts of your experience that words alone can’t always reach.
Options to consider:
Ask your therapist whether integrating a different modality could help.
Explore adjunctive EMDR while continuing talk therapy with your current therapist.
If therapy has started to feel overwhelming, consider adjusting frequency or pacing.
Guiding questions:
Am I curious about trying a different therapy style or modality?
Would a more structured or goal-oriented approach support me right now?
How can I adjust the pace of therapy to match my needs?
6. Give Yourself Permission to Pause or Reset
Sometimes, what’s needed isn’t to push harder—but to pause. Therapy can bring up intense emotions, and taking a step back to reassess can make the work more sustainable long-term.
Practical steps:
Talk to your therapist about a temporary break or shift in frequency.
Revisit the goals that originally brought you into therapy.
Reflect on what kind of support would feel most helpful moving forward.
Guiding questions:
Am I feeling emotionally depleted after sessions?
Would a short break give me clarity and energy to re-engage?
What would a reset in therapy look like for me right now?
When It Might Be Time to Switch Therapists
Sometimes feeling stuck is also information about the therapeutic fit. If you’ve voiced your concerns and the dynamic isn’t improving, it’s okay to explore other options. A good fit is essential for effective therapy.
Signs it may be time to switch:
You don’t feel understood or heard, even after naming your concerns.
The therapist’s style doesn’t align with your personality or goals.
You’ve hit a plateau and your therapist isn’t helping redirect the work.
If you’re feeling ready for a change and don’t know where to go next—we can help.
Reach out for your free consult and we’ll help you make sense of what you’re feeling and match you with a therapist that will be sure to get you “unstuck”.
If you’re not quite ready to book yet, check out our amazing therapists and learn more about the work we do to support gen z and millennials here in NYC.
Action Steps to Get Unstuck
Reflect on what feels stuck using the questions above.
Bring your concerns directly into the therapy room.
Consider shifting the focus, trying a new modality, or adjusting the pace.
Give yourself permission to pause, reset, or explore a new therapist if needed.
Final Thought
Feeling stuck in therapy doesn’t mean therapy isn’t working. More often than not, it’s part of the process—a signal that something important is just beneath the surface. Growth often happens right after the moments that feel slow, unclear, or frustrating.
Stay curious. Lean into the discomfort. Trust that clarity and progress are always within reach. You are never alone.
